Because California is a relatively urban state, speed limits tend to be lower and people travel fewer miles by car, on average, than those in rural states.

Studies
have shown that the most dangerous states for driving tend to have higher speed limits and larger rural areas. Across the nation, dense urban states with more readily available public transit systems effectively encourage people to drive less. As a result, they have correspondingly lower rates of automobile fatalities.

When considering the geographical differences in rurality, speed limits and public transportation, it makes sense that the South and the Great Plains have some of the highest car accident fatality rates while the Northeast and West have the lowest. Overall, though, the U.S. has made great strides in improving the safety of driving. From 1925 to 1997 there was a 90 percent decrease in fatality rate
, but as some of these states show, there is still room for improvement.